#they'll gladly take care of aoko when needed

[etude-in-citrine]

It's something I wondered too with the Blue Birthday chapter.

But hear me out. While we know that her father forgot her birthday (being busy with the heist and stuff, shame on you Ginzo), we don't actually know if Midoriko forgot. There is a possibility that Midoriko wished her a happy birthday through her phone (either through text or phone call) in between and maybe either telling her that she's going to be home super late or not being able to make it, or even booking another day to celebrate with her. We never saw Aoko's whole day and only segments of her birthday after all (during school, Aoko celebrating with her friends, then her waiting for Kaito). So maybe if Aoko told her beforehand that she was going to celebrate with her friends, that Midoriko decides to celebrate it another day with her. Her schedule is already atrocious as it is and if there is an important case on that day somehow, then Aoko would definitely convince her to focus on that rather than her birthday. Heck maybe it was Midoriko that also bought the cake or gave money for her to order for her party.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not exactly defending Midoriko because I completely agree with Midoriko's appearance. It's very clear that Gosho shoehorned in and definitely lowkey ruined how the Nakamori household has been portray so far.. However, there are tons of possibilities with this chapter in particular if we were to include Midoriko in the equation and unless we go through Aoko's phone, we wouldn't exactly know if she forgot like Ginzo did. Nonetheless, I'm sure (or at least really hope) that Midoriko made it up to her at the end by celebrating the next day (or whenever she can) and have Ginzo make it up to her (after he realizes his mistake). At least, I'm sure Kaito would have helped these parents remember her birthday if they didn't. Let's not put more sins on these parents than they already have, courtesy of Gosho :)

As much as I enjoyed Midoriko in the newest chapters of MK I feel like her existence kinda alters the dynamic of Aoko’s home life in a pretty negative way. Before her introduction Aoko and Inspector Nakamori had a very single parent household vibe which justified Aoko’s loneliness and anger towards Kaito Kid as her dad, while well meaning for the most part, was constantly absorbed in his job.

With Midoriko it changes that dynamic from a single dad getting absorbed in work but working to support his daughter to just two work obsessed parents and their neglected child. It’s most noticeable when you reread the series and get to the Blue Birthday chapter with the context of Midoriko’s existence.

This is already one of Nakamori’s worst parenting moments in my opinion and now knowing BOTH of Aoko’s parents forgot her birthday is just so sad. It’s even worse when you consider that Midoriko was able to take time off for her own birthday but forgot her daughters?? Also how does she not know anything about Kaito Kid when in the last chapter of the manga Kaito Kid was suspected of kidnapping her daughter??? Did no one call her and tell her that her daughter was missing???

I wouldn’t mind these changes if they were used to go deeper into Kaito and Aoko’s friendship and how they’ve gotten closer from their shared experiences with absent parents (and then it could play into how Kaito’s more recent absences due to Kaito Kid stuff are affecting Aoko since he was her support when it came to loneliness) but I know that’s not the direction they’re going with this.

It’s also just kinda wild how Gosho ruined both MK parents in the span of a few months.